Toria Garbutt is set to release her debut album, Hot Plastic Moon, on Friday 27th May. The spoken word artist, from Knottingley, burst on to Yorkshire’s spoken word scene with collective A Firm Of Poets in summer 2014. She’s also appeared at Latitude Festival and on the national tour Ossett Observer Presents: The People’s Republic of Poetry.

Her album is described as an engaging collection of confessional, observational and character-based punk poetry that is brutally honest yet breathtakingly beautiful. The album is being released via Nymphs & Thugs, an independent spoken word record label that was formed in spring 2015.

Speaking about her work, Toria said: “Some of my poetry is hard hitting and dark but there is hope and beauty in there too. I’m just speaking my own truth, in my own words, in my own style. I refuse to conform because I think it’s important to be authentic.”

Toria’s delivery style has earned her the nickname “the lyrical machine gun”, so she’s definitely not a live performer to be missed! Her album launch is happening at Leeds’s Hyde Park Book Club on the 26th May. Make sure it’s in the diary!

You can contribute to the crowdfunding campaign for Hot Plastic Moon here.